Sarah Day (left) and Laura Frye in the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's production of "Collected Stories."

Neatly arranged nesting dolls - appearing on an upstage table in a Greenwich Village apartment - tell us a lot about the theme and structure of Donald Margulies' "Collected Stories." Under C. Michael Wright's direction, the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and Madison's Forward Theater Company opened a collaborative production of Margulies' play Friday night.

Author Ruth Steiner (Sarah Day) has lived in that apartment for more than 30 years. Star-struck Lisa Morrison (Laura Frye), the young writer who bursts into Ruth's life in the first scene, is Ruth's latest protégée - another nesting doll aspiring to replicate, on a smaller scale, her master's form. | Nov. 24, 2012»Read Full Article

This Kickstarter project is coming to a brewery near you. At least they hope so.

Lance Rice is a 55-year-old historian with an encyclopedic knowledge of beer. The Cleveland native has held a lifelong dream of touring the country's breweries and writing a book about the history and culture of American beer. The visits will be filmed for a documentary called "Lance's Brewery Tour," with Milwaukee stops scheduled for MillerCoors, the original Pabst Brewery, the Pabst Mansion and Minhas Brewing in Monroe and the National Brewery Museum in Potosi. | April 22, 2013»Read Full Article

Here's Richie Havens, as recorded in 1971 playing his transformative take on the Beatles' 'Here Comes the Sun." Havens died Monday of a heart attack, according to a statement from his family. The guitarist was 72.

Whitewater - In his forward to Penelope Niven's new Thornton Wilder biography, Edward Albee writes: "If I were asked to name what I consider to be the finest serious American play, I would immediately say 'Our Town.'"

As I don't disagree, I made the short drive to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Sunday for the first of two performances of Wilder's play. Directed by Jim Butchart and featuring John McGivern as the stage manager, it is being produced as part of Whitewater's "Big Read," which is focused this year on Wilder. | April 22, 2013»Read Full Article(2)

Wisconsin's Gaylord Nelson put the concept in motion in 1970. Milwaukee's Neroli Salon & Spa will celebrate the day by participating in a global 24-hour cut-a-thon with Aveda. Stylists will volunteer their time with haircuts in return for a donation to Earth Month and an eye toward breaking a Guinness World Record. | April 22, 2013»Read Full Blog Post